Properly bending rig wires

Tournaments have show that the umbrella rig can not only catch numbers, but quality fish too.There’s endless ways to rig your umbrella. You can clip on your favorite swimbait, Frenzy Vibe, or swim jig to make the perfect combination for the conditions. As the baits on the end of the rig help your confidence, the most important part of the rig is how you bend the wires to repeatedly fool fish. Right out of the package you have unlimited freedom to bend the wires to your specific taste. For me it’s always having two wires straight down, one to the middle and two strait up. Regardless of which way that I bent the wires, I have always bent the wires out directly at the base of the head. It wasn’t until a recent fishing trip at Clear Lake where pro angler Jackson Juarez sat me down and explained how to properly bend the wires at the head of the rig. After taking the bait out of the package, he uses his thumb and index finger to pinch the wires behind the head. That way when he bends the wires out, there’s roughly a 3/4 inch gap between the head of the bait and where the wires start to spread out. Look below for further detail:

The bait right out of the package, before bending the wires.

Use your index finger and your thumb to pinch the wires behind the head. This will give you roughly a 3/4 inch gap behind the head. You then bend out the wires one by one in the direction of your choice.

After you’ve bent out each wire individually, this is how the bait should look. There are numerous benefits to bending the wires 3/4 of an inch behind the head. For one, it keeps the line from catching the arm’s when casting. When you twitch the bait when your reeling in, the bait pops in the water column and triggers a reaction strike. Its a crucial element to catching more fish.